CHILDREN could be at increasing risk of contracting and spreading deadly food poisoning bugs because councils will not be forced to check school toilet hygiene, experts have warned today.

Consumer Focus Wales (CFW) argues that the Assembly Government has failed to implement one of Professor Hugh Pennington’s key recommendations from the South Wales E.coli public inquiry.

The document, which sets out best practice for schools, does not address Prof Pennington’s central point that every council should have a programme of audits to ensure all schools have adequate toilet and hand washing facilities.

Jennie Bibbings, CFW’s senior policy advocate, said: “In the current financial climate school toilets might be a low priority but hygiene standards could suffer and the risk of illness among school children increases.

“We do not agree [the guidance] fully meets the requirements of Prof Pennington’s recommendation because it says almost nothing about how standards will be monitored at local authority level.

“Without that broad view at the local authority level there is no way of evaluating the extent to which schools are adopting best practice and no way of knowing whether the guidance has actually made any difference to the quality of provision. The consequences of not implementing [Prof Pennington’s] recommendation could therefore be very serious.”

The public inquiry into the 2005 E.coli O157 outbreak in South Wales heard shocking evidence about the state of school toilets. In some of the schools in the outbreak area there was no running hot water or even soap for children to wash their hands.

Peter Clarke, Wales’ first Children’s Commissioner, had highlighted concerns about the lack of soap and toilet paper in some schools in 2004 – a year before butcher William Tudor caused the E.coli O157 outbreak.

And his successor Mr Towler again highlighted the sub-standard facilities in his third annual report last year.

Speaking about the Assembly Government draft guidance, Mr Towler told the Western Mail pupils repeatedly raise concerns about the state of their school toilets.

He said: “Currently I’m seeing inequality across the country with some schools having made considerable improvement while other pupils feel so strongly about it they refuse to use the toilet during the school day.

“While I’m pleased to see the publications of the consultation there are areas which continue to concern me.

“As it stands there is insufficient detail in the guidance to help schools conduct their own audits of toilet facilities and I’d urge the Government to develop a template for schools to implement the guidance effectively.

“I’d also like to know what plans will be put in place by local authorities to ensure governing bodies receive this best practice guidance and ensure it is fully implemented so pupils see a real improvement in their school toilet provision.

The public consultation on the guidance – A Response to School Toilets: Best Practice Guidance for Primary and Secondary Schools in Wales – closes today.

Consumer Focus Wales said it should also include standards for staff facilities because successive food hygiene inspection reports have revealed variable performance among school canteens in the provision of hand washing facilities.”

An Assembly Government spokesperson said: “We are currently consulting on our draft guidance on how best to improve school toilet standards. “We welcome all views on this important issue which will be considered as part of the consultation process.”